Great response to the rare so-so review of Emmett's great book (THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE REVIEWS ARE TERRIFIC)

Avoid "totally, totally" idiotic reviews, January 20, 2012
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This review is from: Within Arm's Length: The Extraordinary Life and Career of a Special Agent in the United States Secret Service (Paperback)
There seems to be one solid truism in life: death, taxes...and at least a few moronic reviews of products online. I'll bet even The Bible would receive one and two star reviews from some folks, if given the chance! I have read Dan Emmett's excellent book four times and I come away very impressed every time with how it is written, put together, and the content (like, "totally", dude). And, using the venacular of the time, "it is what it is": gee, if he spent a large part of his time with CAT and PPD in the Service protecting President Clinton, it should naturally follow that the majority of the agency commentary would be related to Clinton (elected in 1992; served as President January 1993-January 2001). Criticism of Emmett's book for focusing "too much" on the Clinton days would be tantamount to scolding former agent Gerald Blaine for "obsessing" about the JFK years in "The Kennedy Detail"!

It's one thing to castigate Clinton for seemingly being reckless with his decision-making in public, with regard to his security...but don't "kill the messenger" (author Dan Emmett) for delivering the bad news. Memoirs are always at the perogative of the AUTHOR: if he/ she chooses to cover---or NOT cover---a certain topic, either in depth or not at all, that is (using that word again) their perogative. Now, it is one thing if an author purposely avoids or suspiciously downplays an important event; that is fair game for criticism. However, with regard to both the JFK assassination AND 9/11, there have been many forests killed for the millions of pages of prose---good, bad, and ugly---about those events. Emmett's book is NOT about those events---it is the story of his LIFE. Those events, albeit very important, in and of themselves, are almost ancillary to the big picture.

As someone who has read many agency books, memoirs, etc., it is refreshing to read a book that is concise and not long-winded. Quite often, many, if not hundreds, of pages could be excised from many overwrought volumes in the publishing world. And, contrary to the bad reporting of the media, Emmett's book is free of gossip, state secrets, confidential agency security details, or any kind of bashing of the Clintons in any way, shape, or form.

I highly recommend this book---MOST people agree; totally.